Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 8, No 4, 2020, pp 801-810 https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2020.8480 801 |https://giapjournals.com/hssr/index © Monirinejad et. al ROLE OF INTELLECTUALS IN TRIBAL POLICIES OF REZA SHAH REGIME: A STUDY FOCUSING ON THE BAKHTIARI AND QASHQAEI TRIBE Mahdi Monirinejad 1 , Arman Heidari 2* , Keshvad Siahpour 3 1 PhD student, Department of Sociology, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran; 2* Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran; 3 Assistant Professor, Department of History, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran. Email: 1 mehdimonirinezhad@yahoo.com, 2* armanhedari90@gmail.com, 3 ksiahpour@yahoo.com Article History: Received on 28 th May 2020, Revised on 18 th July 2020, Published on 2 nd September 2020 Abstract Purpose of the study: Following the entrance of Reza Shah into Iran’s political scene, the Persian archaist and nationalist intellectuals started to support him. These intellectuals believed that only through a central government with a Persian Nationalism could establish a united national nation-state in Iran. They played a key role in paving the path for the formation of a united nation-state and tackling the existing barriers before its path, e.g. the semi-autonomous traditional tribal governments, through establishing parties, societies, and newspapers and various activities in the administrative and bureaucratic domains. This is an issue which has not been discussed almost by no one of the scholars who have conducted studies on Iran. Methodology: The present study has been undertaken based on the method of historical sociology and through the use of the library sources. Results: In this way, the intellectuals who were supporters of the ancient Persian nationalism persuaded Reza Shah to adopt a radical military approach against the tribes. They consecrated Reza Shah and did not miss any opportunity to humiliate the tribes in every possible form. In fact, the pro-ancient Persian nationalism intellectuals had their own personal strategies for the destruction of the semi-independent governments. Applications of this study: This article plays a prefund role in studying the history of recent Iran. Novelty of the study: The Novelty of the study is in investigating the historical sociology and using various sources. Keywords: Tribes, Intellectuals, Resa Shah Regime, Bakhtiari, Qashqaei. INTRODUCTION In pre-modern era, Iran’s population had been composed of the face to face communities with their own particular structures, hierarchies, language, and dialects that lived based on their self-sufficient economies until the end of the nineteenth century. These tribes included 15 major clans, i.e. Qajar, Kurd, Turkeman, Baluch, Bakhtiari, Lor, Mamasani, Hazar, Boyer Ahamadi, Shahsaven, Afshar, Teymuri, Qashqaei and Khamseh that had semi-autonomous traditional government (Abrahamian Y. 2012 ). Tribes were one of the significant social and political forces that in all three pre-modern, modern and postmodern eras have played different roles in the social life of Iran. Basically, the formation of a central government in Iran particularly since the fifth century of Hijra was possible when there was a tribal and ethnic support. Such regimes as Seljuqis, Teymurids, Aq Qoyunlu, Qara Qoyunlu, Safavid, Afsharyyah, Zandyyah, and Qajari had a tribal origin. Within the context and procedure of the political, social, cultural and economic changes and developments that had occurred during the Qajar era in the structure of the “Guarded Domains of Iran”, the emergence of the secular and religious intellectuals is considered to be one of the most important events in the history of the “Guarded Domains” under the Qajar regime. The newly emerged intellectuals had an effective role in the change and developments of the Qajar Guarded Domains and later in the era of Reza Shah and then in the next periods. Gholamreza Goodarzi in his work entitled “Unfinished Modernity of Iranian intellectuals” has divided the evolution of the intellectual movement in Iran into six eras that from a chronological point of view, begins from three earlier decades before constitutionalism and continues right into today. He offers certain characteristics for each one of the determined eras. In the early periods, the reformist intellectuals in their theoretical approaches to the modernity simultaneously insisted on the democratic and technical aspects of the modernity in an equal scale while in the second era, following the emergence of the constitutionalism, although the political power is transited, the economic structure of the society remains the same and the constitutional institutions take form in a very hasty and imitative way. The third period is simultaneous with the absolute dominance of Reza Shah the first stage of which is proceeding in collaboration with the intellectuals who are having the idea of modernization in their head but from 1935 to 1941 the intellectuals leave Reza Shah’s company and are secluded. In this era, the number of the journals decline from 150 to 50. The fourth period is from 1941 to 1953 August 19. The fifth period begins from the August 19 coup and end in 1979 and finally, the sixth period starts in 1979 and continues up to this day (Goodarzi G. 2008 ).